#this movie had a lot of potential and great ideas but just as a previous movie it suffered by mandatory boring big fight at the end

[nocek]

Ok I know it's a little bit late but turns out my big Okoye rant just has to be written down or it will keep bothering me. So here we go. Screaming into the void.

The thing is I like Okoye and I think she had nice thing going on in Wakanda Forever. That is up until the point that her plot threads were axed midway and rest of it was given to Nakia of all people? Which sucks for both of them. So in this essay....

The first Black Panther movie build her up nicely as Lawful Neutral character. Which is rare and for me makes really interesting character. She dutifully followed the law when Killmonger took the throne and then just as dutifully was about to kill her husband when it was revealed the throne taking wasn't so lawful after all. Both of those choices were incredibly emotionally hard for her and actually quite rare storytelling wise. Which I loved. What is even better: on top of all that she wasn't punished by the narrative for being lawful instead of going after her heart.

Great! I really, really loved it. Especially when in the new movie they started to nicely build up on that to give her own little plot and character growth.

Well. Up to a point.

But lets focus on what they were clearly building up to.

Okoye loves Wakanda. It's her character virtue since she is Lawful Neutral. But at the same time loving it too much and too blindly is her character flaw.

Wakanda is the best and thus doesn't need to change.

First we saw it in Infinity War with a little side joke about opening Wakanda to the world meant maybe Starbucks and not, well... war.

In Wakanda Forever in one of the first scenes she tells Aneka to give back the daggers since spears are traditional weapon. Which, by virtue of being traditional, are better and it's not going to change on her watch.

For that, the obvious plot resolution would be that Okoye needs to open up to new things (particularly technology). Unfortunately, the thing is, they sort of did that in the movie but in the worst way possible (and I don't just mean that Midnight Angel armor is ugly, you are right sister. It's ugly af) but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Wakanda is the best and thus I'm the best.

Okoye is a bit full of herself, or to be more precise thinks others are not as good since they are not Wakandan. She assumes she can deal with Americans and duh, she is right. She can actually deal with them like nbd. So does it really count as being blinded by her own/ Wakandan awesomeness?

Yes. Yes it does. I love that she is confident in her skills and she has all the right to be but she also knew there is new unknown threat. It was overconfidence on her part to think she can deal with Talokans too.

And she got her ass handled to her in fair fight.

And she broke her promise to queen Ramonda and lost Shuri.

Consequences as plot resolution? It's more likely than you think.

Because yeah. That's where clearly her further plot was axed and given to Nakia (which could be whole other big rant but just so you know: she was done dirty here too). Because let's be real it would fit perfectly.

Classic plot. Hero gets overconfident. Fucks up. As consequence hero loses their privileges/status/whatever. So they go on a quest not to regain their privileges or prove themselves but to right their wrongs.

Often they initially want to prove themselves, but then they learn they need to fix their mistakes because it's a right thing to do. Just after that the narrative can reward them with actually-you-just-have-proven-yourself-plot-twist - here are your privileges back and then some.

In Okoye's sake we can even cut on the second part of that plot. She just goes on a quest to right her wrongs and to save the princess.

Rewrite of a rewritten plot?

So her first overall wrong was dismissal of new technology. Could be righted easily by going to Griot to ask it to help her locate Shuri. It's even still in the movie but instead it's Ramonda who talks with Griot. It shows Griot can locate Shuri, they just added little scene with Nakia doing spy stuff and talking to people because it's her forte.

It would even fit the underwater cave rescue scene better. Because the forceful solution of going in guns blazing would fit more Okoye's desperation. Nakia is a spy. She would be more level headed and just sneak in and out unnoticed. Moreover, since she is more caring people person she wouldn't just leave that one girl to die.

But hey. If they didn't do that they wouldn't have the excuse for war and to have whole second part of the movie and "big" action scene at the end. Which is sadly mandatory in Marvel movies.

But going back to Okoye before I get sidetracked too much.

Just a rewrite... please.

With that the last plot thread for her to resolve would be redo of the fight with Attuma.

And it could and SHOULD follow the classic plot of like Rocky and countless others:

Hero loses a fight

Hero trains some more/ learns new things

Hero wins second fight fair and square

but nooooooo

Instead of mixing it with with opening to new technologies plot - as in asking Griot to help her find weak spots of Talokans. Or even just upgrading her spear to be better in fight with another vibranium spear if you really need to go this way (and clearly don't have time for training montage in this bloated movie)...

nope. Instead we go sorry Okoye you are just too weak. Here, have an armor. Which ok ties to the same new technologies plot thread but at the same time is so damn insulting to Okoye and her skills.

Like really fucking insulting.

It's like going to Cap or Black Widow and saying you are cool with all the fancy kicks and all but lets be real here. You are to week to fight real super powered villains - here have an armor.

Would anyone do that? No. Because it's insulting and goes against what those characters are at their core. Even if they are "too weak" they still would win by their skill, their smarts, their cunning nature or just by their sheer stubbornness.

Because those are their cove virtues.

Because that's how storytelling works.

And just FYI I'm not shitting on characters actually using armors. Oh no. Tony or Riri would win by learning and then building smarter armor. Rhodey would win because he is a solider and for him the armor is just tool of the trade - it's just a tank he happens to wear. But for Okoye or Cap or Natasha or any other hand to hand badass fighter it would go against the very idea their character was built on. It would be plot breaking Deus Ex Machina solution. Everyone would be bitching that writers written themselves into a corner and found very unsatisfying plot resolution that doesn't work.

But since Okoye is a side character and this movie has way too much going on in general, it's just left as it is.

And I'm very salty about that.

[imagineinside]

Star-Like Encounters (Hugh Jackman x Fem!Reader) Chapter 2

Previous Chapter: https://www.tumblr.com/imagineinside/760282819875471360/star-like-encounters-hugh-jackman-x-femreader?source=share

A/N: First of all, thank you guys for the love on the first chapter! Sorry it took me longer to get this second one out, life has gotten hectic (I study Aerospace Engineering in real life and my semester just started lol) but this is a great escape for me. I think Chapter 3 will be even more fun to write than this one. ;)

Description: You begin your first semester at a prestigious university with a mix of excitement and chaos. After a frantic start involving a late arrival due to your roommate’s Hollywood-related detour, your day takes an unexpected turn when you meet Hugh Jackman, your roommate’s boss, at a movie studio.

Hugh, intrigued by your expertise in physics, invites you to consult on a film project aiming for scientific accuracy. Balancing your new academic responsibilities with a potential Hollywood cameo, you must navigate your dual interests. As you face your own feelings, you discover that the lines between your professional and personal worlds are more intertwined than you imagined.

Currently Applicable Tags: (Future) 18+, Fluff, cocky Hugh Jackman, flirty Hugh Jackman, age gap (55 and 27), so much pining, mutual pining, more to come.

The next week and a half went by without any real hassle. In fact, Hugh and your roommate had to go overseas for some press release on the upcoming debut of the “Deadpool and Wolverine” film, which you were definitely going to see on opening day. You could hardly believe Hugh Jackman was already working on a new movie, but perhaps he needed to be busy with work right now to keep his mind off other things. You understood the feeling.

You hadn’t sent Hugh another text yet, despite the fact that your roommate had already given you the green light to do so. You had just secured your first semester at Stanford, and while there was nothing in your contract stating you couldn’t pursue other career opportunities, being a professor to over 100 students still took a lot of time. And being the newest, and youngest, faculty member you knew you were under heavy scrutiny from the headmaster.

It was rather unheard of for a young professional at the age of 27 to become a professor. But throughout your university career you had pursued your Masters and Bachelors at the same time, which had just left a three-year long Phd to complete in which you focused on laser technology and nuclear propulsion systems. Hugh Jackman had been right about at least one thing, you were very dedicated and passionate about your craft.

After your class Wednesday morning you were set on grading papers for the rest of the day, the assignment had been “What shape is our universe?” a relatively simple question but with a lot of avenues to discuss. Well, you were set on grading papers until you opened up your YouTube account to turn on background music and a new interview featuring Hugh Jackman popped up on your feed. This one was from The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, so they must have just taken a while to post it.

It was as if your hand had a mind of its own as you clicked on the video. A wild round of applause started as Hugh Jackman took his seat and seemed to readjust his sweater, hips popping in the air. God, he was so effortlessly attractive. The interview went through the normal questions, yet you still soaked up every minute of it. It wasn't until the last couple minutes that Fallon had asked him, “So can you tell us anything about the new movie that is still in pre-production? I mean, I have no idea what it’s even about!”

Hugh laughed, crows feet growing appearing to his eyes. You absolutely adored the smile lines around his eyes and mouth, you wish you could trace every single one. “I can’t say too much, sorry, Jimmy. What I can say is that we’ve recruited some expertise for the physics of the movie… y’know like the stuff that us movie producers aren’t very well versed in.” He said with another laugh, “And I gotta say, she is just amazing, and very passionate about her work.”

“Is she the hottie of her department too, Hugh?” Fallon had asked with a laugh, obviously making a joke.

Hugh seemed to pause, a smile forming on his lips, “If she isn’t, then I would be very surprised, Jimmy.”

“Does the Hugh Jackman have a crush?”

Hugh laughed, “Even if I did, I highly doubt it would be reciprocated–”

You slammed your laptop shut, heart pounding in your ears. You whipped out your phone to text Ashley but paused when the keyboard popped up, what exactly were you going to say to her? Hey! So your boss inadvertently flirted with me and it’s making me feel some very specific type of way. What do I do???

Instead, you opted to open up the email from Ashley which included an agenda for the pre-production discussions. Attached to her email, she had written, “I also let them know your work schedule and when you have your mid-term breaks, so we tried to work around them.” You smiled at your friend's generosity, she truly was so encouraging of your work and had so much admiration for you, as you did her.

As you reviewed the dates and times alongside your class schedule, you realized there was really no reason to say no. They had aligned the dates perfectly so that you wouldn’t have to worry about missing or being late to any lectures. Sure, you may have to take your grading work on the go, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. You were a professor for an introductory graduate course, you weren’t meant to be too hard on these kids.

You reopened your phone, hesitating over Hugh Jackman’s icon before clicking on your messages. Before you could really think about it, you hurriedly typed out a text and clicked send.

Putting your phone on do not disturb, you shoved it to the side and got back to grading papers. It took nearly a full three hours before you were done with the stack of 100 essays, and you had merely skimmed them. It probably would’ve taken you far longer to thoroughly read through them.

It wasn’t until you had your bag packed up to return home that you dared another look at your phone. You weren’t sure why you were so nervous, the worst thing he could say was that they found someone else, or if he didn’t respond at all. You still weren’t sure this was all real, so having it come to an end may be for the best anyway.

Upon seeing that he had messaged you only minutes after you sent him your initial text, you hurriedly sent an apology.

The photo had you laughing in the middle of the hallway on your way out of the building, getting a few glares from fellow professors and students. You mumbled a quick apology and hurriedly went through the exit, simultaneously typing a response back to him.

* * *

It wasn’t until Sunday night that your roommate returned home and immediately beelined to her room. You couldn’t blame her, being gone and traveling that whole time would have made you really miss your bed too.

You decided to be a good friend and greet her with a cup of coffee and a plate of eggs the next morning, to which she had immediately devoured both. Then you were off to class, with a promise to pick Ashley up on your way to the first of the pre-production meetings. 

During your lecture, it felt like it was impossible to focus on the task at hand. Instead, your mind seemed to want to focus on your nerves about seeing Hugh Jackman again, in person. Sure, you two had been exchanging a bit since last Monday, but it wasn’t about anything personal. You tried to keep your conversations strictly professional so as not to give yourself a heart attack.

“Finally, God, what took you so long?” Ashley grumbled as she clambered into the Volvo.

You rolled your eyes, shifting it out of park and merging onto the road. “Someone is still jet lagged.” “Ugh, don’t even get me started. I still want to be in a ball on my bed right now, not going to this meeting. Plus!” Ashley exclaimed, throwing a finger in the air, “I won’t even know what you’ll be babbling on about! I don’t know rocket physics or whatever.”

“Astrophysics,” you quietly remind her.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to undermine your interest. I’m just tired and grumpy.”

You laughed, “It’s fine, Ash, let’s just make it there without you jumping out of this car in an attempt to escape.

“Don’t tempt me.” She said, and you both burst out into laughter.

* * *

When you arrived at the older looking building closer to downtown Los Angeles, Ashley showed you where to park in the back to keep your license plate hidden. “Paparazzi like to take pictures of the cars here and try to track them down,” she had explained.

Then you were knocking on the back door, your heart in your throat. You heard footsteps approaching from behind the door before the door swung open to reveal an older gentleman with curly, graying hair.

He gave you two a bright smile, “Ashley, good to see you again.” He greeted Ashley to which she gave him a half-hearted grunt back. “And you must be the professor I’ve heard so much about. I’m Shawn, the director for the film.”

You smiled and shook his hand before he stepped aside to let you guys in. The building wasn’t at all what you had expected, you thought the meeting would be at a cold, fluorescent-lit office building, not this quaint, rustic old home near downtown.

You followed Ashley into what you thought would be the dining room of the household, where you were greeted with six other individuals–including Hugh Jackman himself, sitting around an oak table with a whiteboard at the very end. The whiteboard was full of different scribbled imagery and what you thought was an attempt at Newton’s Laws… you couldn’t be quite sure.

“Ah, there she is!” Hugh exclaimed as he tossed his reading glasses–which you tried not to think about how hot he looked with them on, key word: tried–and began walking over to you.

You opened your mouth to greet him, right before you were enveloped in a warm hug by his giant body. He was so much bigger than you, standing side-by-side you hadn't noticed. But right then you felt safe… protected.

You tried not to revel in the hug too much, allowing yourself one long draw of his clean, pinewood scent before pulling away. “Good to see you also made it back alive. Though the jet-lag isn’t affecting you as much as Grumpy over there from Snow White.”

Ashley flipped you off as she settled in a chair and pulled a stack of papers into her lap.

“Thank you for coming,” Hugh said as you drifted your eyes up to his face. His hands clasped around your shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze before he turned to go back to his spot at the table.

Clearing your throat, you settled into the last remaining seat at the head of the room. “I have already signed the NDA for the film and faxed it to Ashley while she was away. So, if I’m able to ask, what exactly did I need to be asked about?”

All eyes turned to Shawn, the man that had greeted you at the door. “There is a part of the film where the main characters are sending their ship through a wormhole to travel a big distance. Can you describe how that would look?”

Oh, boy… “Well, how scientifically accurate are you hoping this movie to be? Like Interstellar level, or Star Wars?”

“We were hoping for more Interstellar.” A bald man across from Hugh answered.

“In that case, it’s important to note that scientifically speaking, we don’t know if wormholes even exist or not. In theoretical physics, they can be described as ‘tunnel-like’ structures.” You paused to survey the faces of those around you, your eyes falling on one face in particular. Hugh had his head resting on his open hand, a twinkle of something in his eye as he nodded in encouragement for you to continue. “Basically, wormholes are a wrinkle in whatever fabric space is made of,” you said and picked up a piece of loose paper that was on the table. You brought the two edges together to form a wrinkle. “Simply, it would be like a tunnel traveling through this paper. But that wrinkle needs to exist first.”

“And you don’t know ‘if the technology which we humans have created would be able to survive traveling in a wrinkle through space. Or if the human body would survive on a molecular level’,” Hugh carried on.

You nodded slowly, not sure if he knew what he was quoting, “Yes, that was from my… um, my graduate thesis.”

Hugh smiled and held up a stapled stack of paper, “I know, I printed it out.” He laughed as he confessed, “I think I’ve read it three or four times to grasp everything you discussed.”

You tried to hide the blush forming on your cheeks. While you took great pride in that thesis, you didn’t think anyone–especially Hugh Jackman–would have taken such an interest in it.

“The other issue is what lies beyond the thin fabric of space if a wormhole exists? That’s the greatest mystery of my field, though,” you laughed, “We have no idea what our universe is actually expanding into. Does matter just cease to exist past that point? Is it a giant black hole? We have no clue.”

“From the sounds of it, you can’t answer our questions then.” The bald man said to you from across the room, his icy glare making you snap your mouth shut, before turning to Shawn, “I told you it would be a waste of our time–”

“I think you should leave,” a gruff voice announced, and it took you a moment to register that it was Hugh who said it. Was he seriously willing to stand up for you like that?

The man scoffed, “Seriously?”

Hugh stood suddenly, his chair scraping against the hardwood floor. It was hard not to notice how mouth-drooling good he looked in his green cashmere sweater. It really did hug him in all the right ways.

“Yes, seriously,” Hugh insisted as he began to walk around the table. As he passed by you, he gave your shoulder–at least what you imagined was–an apologetic squeeze. The feeling of his calloused hand against your bare shoulder sent a shiver down your spine. “Come, I’ll walk you out.”

“Shawn, really?” The bald man looked to the director.

Shawn sighed as he glanced up at Hugh. He must have seen something in his lead actor's eyes since he said, “I think it would be best for you to take a break for now, we will see you again tomorrow.”

Without another word, the man gathered his belongings and stormed out of the house, slamming the backdoor before Hugh was able to close it for him. Once Hugh returned to the room, you felt like you could breathe again.

“So, where were we?” Hugh asked as he sat back down, and you didn’t miss the way he shuffled closer to you to rub soothing circles on the small of your back.

* * *

You answered a few more of their questions regarding wormhole travel, black holes, and also the passing of time in space versus on-planet. After an hour and a half it felt like you were losing their attention, so you decided to end the discussion there. Ashley had fallen asleep on the chair, but when it was time to go you gave her the keys and she went out to the car.

Eventually everyone had cleared out of the room besides you and Hugh, which left you not really knowing what to say.

“I’m sorry about Steven,” Hugh had started. He was standing behind his chair, hands braced on the back of it. His fingers were so long and elegant, and his palms were double the size of yours. He was an all-around giant compared to you.

You waved it off, “It didn’t phase me. I’ve dealt with worse individuals before, happens a lot in my field actually.” You paused before saying, “Thank you, though, for, um, sticking up for me. But you should know I can take care of myself,” you said with a playful smile.

Hugh’s face grew into a smile that matched yours as he took a few steps forward until he was just a handreach away. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah!” You said and playfully punched him in the chest, your fist contacting with refined muscle, “I’m a big girl. Do you see these guns?” You laughed and pretended to flex your arms.

“I feel bad for whatever person crosses you,” Hugh laughed, though it quickly tapered off as he worried at his bottom lip.

You furrowed your brow and titled your head, “Everything alright?”

“Yeah,” Hugh gave you a lopsided smile, though it didn’t really reach his eyes. “Just nervous.”

“About what?”

“Well,” Hugh began but quickly paused as he scratched at the rough beginnings of a beard. You wish you could feel that stubble scraping against your skin and watch it leave irritated marks all over you. “I am assuming you know the debut night for Deadpool & Wolverine is coming up soon.”

“Duh!” You laughed, “I already got tickets for me and Ashley opening night.”

“Right, of course, nevermind then,” Hugh laughed it off with a shrug, but you caught his arm as he went to go past you.

“You aren’t getting off that easy. What were you going to say?”

It seemed like he still took a moment to contemplate it before he said, “I am allowed a plus one for the debut, and my kids already have stuff going on. I guess I was wondering, as a thank you for your help with all this, would you like to go?” He let the question hang in the air for a second, “As my plus one, of course. And I could get you in contact with my stylists and I am sure they would love to have a woman to dress for a change,” he said with an awkward laugh that you still found quite endearing.

“Hugh,” you began and he looked at you as if you held the entire world in your hands, “I would love to go. I’ll arrange with Ashley to make sure one of our friends can go with her in my place.” You paused, something like anxiety creeping up your spine, “But won’t you be worried about what people will say if they see me there with you? I know you are inviting me as a friend and colleague, but… the media tends to run with stuff like this.”

Hugh shook his head and grabbed at the hand you still had on his arm, “No, I won’t be worried. It would be an honor to have you there.” Before you could move away, Hugh brought your hand up to his mouth, leaving a quick kiss on the back of it. “You should get going,” he said, his voice rougher, darker than usual. It’s what you imagined his bedroom voice would be like. WHOA, totally not the time to be thinking about that. “Ashley is probably waiting for you.”

You nodded and shook yourself out of whatever trance he put you in, “Yeah, right, right.” You gathered your belongings and went to leave the room, and you aren’t entirely sure what confidence came over you as you turned back to him to say, “Oh, and Hugh? I am definitely the hottie of my department.” With a wink, you disappeared from sight.

Taglist: @corvusmorte, @chinchie, @reinabxitch (if you aren't on this last but want to be let me know!)

[icarianarts]

Kung Fu Panda 4 makes me so sad because it had SUCH potential for becoming an interesting movie but it is just. A mess, all the other previous movies had enough of a fun idea to work with (even if the beginnings of 2 and 3 had Po relearning things he had figured out in the last installation to the series) that made them enjoyable.

The Chameleon as a villain just…has such a lackluster reasoning for WHY she is so evil, being turned away from being taught kung fu because she was “too small” is ridiculous when we have characters like Mantis who are much smaller than her and have gone on to learn and become a master in his own right. Hearing how the plans for the movie originally were going to give Tai Lung a redemption arc and give him and Po a friendship/rivalry similar to that of like Goku and Vegeta makes me grip my head in agony over what it could have been…

My rough ideas for improving it:

- Remove Zhen as a character for now. Po has only been the Dragon Warrior for a handful of years and there is no reason for him to be suddenly pressured into giving up the title onto someone else. If anything, we could have Shifu simply asking him if he should expect there to be students trained under Po soon. Like a light-hearted jest similar to a parent going so when am I getting grandkids? Stuff like that. LOL

-The Chameleon could have a backstory similar to Tai Lung. Maybe she was turned away from being taught anything because the way she viewed kung fu and what her personal desires were fundamentally flawed/a great evil sensed within her/etc, this could give a reason for her fixation on Tai Lung as a person, make her think they are alike (which would be revealed by the movie that they are not), have an excuse to explore her sorcery better and like. I don’t know, maybe he refuses to help teach her and in reaction to that she takes his abilities away from him. With what makes him “threatening” stripped away, she could just turn him out into the world and basically discard of Tai Lung from there. This could force him to realize he needs help from Po and the others and the movie could start off much more interestingly…

I always get sad over how the movies don’t fully develop the Furious Five beyond Tigress, I think there is a lot of untapped potential for more world building and character development that can easily get dashed. Sigh! Leaves much to think about and consider.

[ryanmarshallryan]

How to tell your boyfriend you like vore

————————

So I told my boyfriend that I had an unusual kink, but hadn’t explained it in detail to him yet. I was trying to think of the best way to explain it, so I started writing this story as a potential way to introduce him to it, but ended up making a funny slideshow fit with jokes and memes about it instead… But then he decided to break up with me for unrelated reasons before I could share either the story or slideshow with him… I’m missing him today and decided to finish up this story and share it. I still meant what I said, even if it just ended up being a moment that won’t happen with him again.

————————

Jason and I had been going out with each other for more than a few months. What had started with an innocent attraction became a regular engagement, with daily chatting online, weekly visits watching movies, eating lots, and cuddling just as much.

I wasn't looking for a committed relationship. The idea of it sounded nice, but based on my previous experiences with men I struggled to believe that a healthy relationship would be viable. But here I was, spending time with a man who wanted me, not only respecting my boundaries but being proactive about them. He never pushed me to do anything I wasn't ready to, or didn't want to do, and always made sure I was comfortable. When I had anxiety he was there to listen when I wanted to talk about it, and patiently waited as I worked through it. He bought me a dozen florist roses simply because "I thought you’d enjoy them," and kept my favorite ice cream, snacks and drinks stocked for whenever I came over. He didn't expect anything of me, but simply cared.

"My friends asked where you were on Saturday," I began telling him as we cuddled, "they expected that I would invite you to their party. I didn't even think to, because I've never really had someone to invite to parties and events. I'm used to being independent, I guess."

"That's all right. As long as you had fun," he replied.

"I did, but I do hope you'll come along to the next one! I'm sorry I didn't think to ask before."

"I'd love to go next time." Jason smiled at me, running his hands through my hair with his left hand and running his thumb along my chest with his other.

"I know we’ve been getting a lot closer, so I want to make sure I am fully open with you. You know I'm pretty vanilla of course, but there is one kink I have that is kind of weird I haven't talked about yet."

"Oh?"

"I'm not sure of the best words to describe it yet. It's pretty easy to misunderstand what it is."

"I won't judge you for it."

"I know you won't, but I still want to explain it well…” I began, “Obviously I love cuddles - "

"Of course"

"And I get turned on when we make out and you pretend to eat my face - "

"What can I say, you have a very eat-able face.”

"And naturally I am a fan of dad bods - "

"My diet of only carbs really comes in handy with that one."

"--- and we share a great love of food."

"Every time we've gotten together that seems to be a major focus of our bonding."

"Well if you put that all together… I get really turned on by a kink that's all about me being very close with a bigger guy who loves to eat food…”

“That just sounds like a normal day”

“Have you heard of vore before?"

"No, what is that?"

"It's the fantasy of being swallowed whole by another guy, or swallowing another guy whole… I'm more the first one though. I just find arousing the idea of someone I care about eating me.”

Jason considered me for a moment, "But it's just a fantasy? It’s not cannibalism?"

"Oh no, though I have had actual cannibals flirt with me, but they are creepy as f***. No, just the fantasy of being swallowed whole is hot to me. I think because it's so vulnerable to be that close with someone; you are literally inside them. I think my brain must have hinged on that intense trust and closeness, and mixed it up with eating food and I developed an interest in vore.”

"This doesn't change how I feel about you," he said, hearing the anxiety in my voice.

"- and it never has to play a part in our relationship. I obviously find you incredibly attractive and love everything we've been doing even if it’s not vore related. I just wanted to let you know since I like to chat with other friends who have the same kink sometimes. It's nice to have other friends who experience the same thing since it can feel crazy at times and I like to feel grounded.”

Jason’s eyes unfocused in thought as he replied, “How would we even put it into a relationship?”

“Oh - well, little jokes about me being good enough to eat, - or maybe food play - eating food off each other maybe, but we don't have to.”

“No, that could be fun”

“Really?”

‘Yeah. I may not be as into it as you, but if it makes you happy I'd be happy to try it. And I do in fact love food whether I eat it off you or not. Hey, it'd give me an excuse to have some dessert. Maybe I'll start with your face,” he said, pulling me in and passionately making out with me. His hands ran up and down my back, and his lips explored my neck and face, lingering on my lips for some time.

“You know what, let's try it,” he pulled back to say.

“Try what?” I asked, getting so caught up in the passion of the moment I forgot what we’d been talking about.

“I've got some Ben and Jerrys in the freezer and some chocolate syrup too. Maybe I'll make a little sundae on you.”

A short while later, following some refrigerator-light kisses, there we were in his bed, on a towel laid out for any melted ice cream mess. He pushed me down, spooned some ice cream onto my belly and chest and began to lick it off slowly. He worked his way up my body, enjoying playing with my nipples, eating the ice cream off of them. After the ice cream was all gone, his lips found mine again and we continued to make out, him crushing me under his weight.

He paused for a moment to nuzzle up to my neck and just lie there for a moment. I slowly kissed his neck and rubbed his back and body. We enjoyed just being with each other. And then he broke the silence.

“Alright then, time for the main course,” he said, climbing off of me and standing on the end of the bed. He picked up my legs and looked me up and down for a moment. He smiled and took a deep breath.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“This - “ he replied shortly. He proceeded to shove my feet into his mouth and swallow hard. He leaned forward and pulled my legs down his throat with unexpected speed. I barely had time to register what was happening when his mouth was already past my crotch. My entire lower body was completely engulfed in his mouth and I could feel the still cool ice cream tickling my feet in his stomach. I had no words, as I was in shock; so horny I don’t think I could have made coherent communication.

He made eye contact for a moment and his eyebrows gave me a look as if to ask for permission to continue. I moaned “Oh my god, you’re so hot - “ and he put his hands under my back and began swallowing my torso. He used his thumbs to rub my nipples momentarily, causing me to tense and shiver in sensual elation. My wriggling body slid further into his throat, feeling his warm body encase me in saliva. I knew his lips so well, but I was experiencing them in a whole new way. I took a deep breath and for the first time, I saw his smile from the other side.

In moments I was completely encased in his stomach and I heard him moaning in delight. There was a large jostling feeling and I knew he had flopped onto the bed.

“Wow, that felt great but took a lot of energy,” he said.

I couldn’t tell if my shivering was due to being hornier than I have ever been in my life, or if his clammy stomach walls were simply jostling me around so much.

“How are you feeling in there? Was it everything you hoped for?” He asked.

After a moment of heavy breathing I replied, “This is the hottest thing to ever happen to me.”

“That felt so good, but I’m so sleepy now…” he said, with heaving breaths in between.

I felt around his belly and curled into a ball to cuddle up to him. The ice cream had mixed with the hot stomach acid and tingled my skin.

“That feels good… so good. Hey, how do I get you out later?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t think this was actually possible enough to think that far.”

“ - we’ll figure it out later, then,” he said, moving about to get comfortable on the bed.

Stomach acid sloshed around as his belly gurgled. I shut my eyes to avoid the juices stinging them. At the same moment I shut my eyes he gave a great belch and the air around me vanished. His stomach muscles closed in on me and began squeezing more tightly. His belly rumbled ever more fiercely.

I tried to say something, to ask him to swallow more air, but he didn’t seem to hear me. Then I heard snoring. I could feel it too. As if the snoring was happening on top of me. I was torn between enjoying this vore experience, and realizing the scary fact that I was about to be digested by my sleeping boyfriend.

(transition)

I took a deep breath. "Wait a moment, that can't be right…" I thought. How was I freely breathing air? I opened my eyes.

I was staring at Jason's stomach, but not the inside. I wasn't being digested, but must have been asleep in bed with him, his arms tightly embracing me. My face was a little crushed up against his chest as he reflexively hugged me tighter in his sleep.

I must have dreamt up the whole thing. The loud stomach rumbles were actually his methodic snores, or perhaps actual stomach rumbles, but just from the other side. Being squeezed down his throat must have been when he began to hold me tighter, the kneading stomach muscles simply his belly and chest pushing against me as he breathed.

I tried to unpin my arms from my sides to embrace Jason back but couldn't get my arm between his torso and the bed. The sensation must have caused him to stir slightly.

"Huh?" he began, eyes still shut. His arms relaxed a bit and I was able to get into a more comfortable position. I rolled around a bit to be a little spoon, and wrapped my hands around his. He seemed to gain a bit more consciousness and gave the back of my neck a tender kiss before returning to his usual snoring.

It felt nice to be in his arms. It didn't matter whether or not vore was real. What made vore arousing to me was something I had, that was genuine. To be so close with someone I trusted and cared for. To feel wanted by someone, to feel safe with them, to be happy for being a part of their lives, and to have them feel the same… and to be cuddled up with a cute belly, of course…

[moviewarfare]

A Review of “Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024)”

I love the Kung Fu Panda trilogy! The 3rd movie felt like a nice wrap-up for the series. However, modern movie studios just can't give up on milking a franchise. Now we have a 4th entry in the series. Is this movie justified, or is it just another cash grab?

Jack Black is still great as Po. He still hasn't lost his charm and continues to deliver a hilarious and charismatic, vocal performance. I also love that his character Po is still a badass dragon warrior. He is always the most skilled fighter in the room and I am glad they didn't make him weaker for the sake of it. Awkwafina is again voicing another sidekick character. She is fine but that is mostly because her character isn't written to be unbearable and that makes Awkwafina bearable. Their characters do have a fun buddy dynamic throughout. Speaking of buddy dynamics, it was nice to see James Hong and Bryan Cranston return as Ping the Geese and Shan the Panda again. Po's fathers have their own, fun mini-adventure in the movie.

The animation is beautiful. Not to the extent of other dreamwork animated movies such as How to Train Your Dragon or Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. However, it looks very appealing for the most part. The action scenes are still very entertaining with its well choreographed Kung-fu scenes. It was also nice to see Ian McShane return as Tai Lung even though it was clearly done for nostalgia bait.

Unfortunately, the story is predictable and boring. Po is required by Master Shifu to pick the next Dragon Warrior but Po doesn't want to and wants to remain the Dragon Warrior. This idea in itself, can be very interesting as he could potentially have to choose between his friends, The Furious Five. Sadly, they are not even in this movie so instead we get a new character in Zhen played by Awkwafina. Oh wow, I wonder who Po will pick…

Po and his dynamic with The Furious Five have always been a highlight but removing that, makes this less interesting. The villain, The Chameleon, is also extremely underwhelming. She can steal the Kung-Fu of martial artists, including previous movie villains. Her motives are weak and her presence is just not menacing enough. They try to say throughout that Po might finally meet his match but they don't do a good job of convincing us that this is true. If anything, the big final battle feels like the easiest fight that Po has ever had so far. How is The Chameleon a threat if the Furious Five weren't even needed?! Ke Huy Quan is also in the movie but his character has no depth at all so it feels like a glorified cameo. Additionally, many of the jokes didn't land. I hate that they leave awkward pauses cause they clearly thought we the audience would laugh.

Overall, this 4th movie had no reason to exist. The story is not meaningful enough to justify its existence. This will be the start of the second trilogy but the ending itself doesn't do much to make me interested in more. The ending is a fine ending to wrap up the series (again). Hopefully, the 5th entry is a lot better and this time, make sure The Furious Five are actually in the movie!

For more reviews like this visit:

https://moviewarfarereviews.blogspot.com/

[ckret2]

I’m a little curious in a previous post talking about flatland Bill says color wasn’t banned. Is color also something they can change like flatland, or are they born with it like skin? If they are born with it is does it also apply to the hierarchy, or is it just going to be based off of sides only? If they aren’t born with it, and it’s like clothing are there certain colors no one can be? Like how only important people could wear purple, so only circles can be purple? I watched a Flatland movie animation which I think is the right movie? I had no clue what was going in, but hope to get the book someday. Also since they have eyes at the edge of their bodies did they change it to the center when they left the 2nd dimension, or whatever happened. Is hugging with a line kind of awkward? I feel like it would be super easy to accidentally hug their face too. Sorry if this is a lot of questions I’m just very curious

(Before I say anything else, since you said you wanna get the book, I'm gonna drop this link on you!! Since Flatland is in the public domain, it's legally available for free through Project Gutenberg! And it's got the original illustrations too. Go forth and read Flatland. It's a fascinating little mix of geography lesson + sci-fi + social satire + cosmic horror. I haven't watched any of the movie adaptations yet, so idk how true they are to the book.)

I assume you're talking about this post! Now, this IS a work-in-progress fic, so some of my headcanons about Bill's backstory & home world are subject to change as I write and figure out what ideas would potentially work best. But so far my plans are thus:

In Bill's home dimension, shapes are naturally born with colors—the same way humans are born with different eye, skin, and hair colors; or (perhaps a more apt comparison to account for the wide variety), the way that a flower can potentially bloom with any color of the rainbow depending on its genes. And shapes CAN give themselves different colors, in the same way that humans can get tattoos or makeup.

Just like humans, changing their color could imply something about the person (for instance, in the same way that humans society makes different assumptions about somebody with purple lipstick and skeleton tattoos versus somebody wearing a full face of subtle natural-looking makeup), but in most places you're not gonna find any laws about what you can slap on your skin.

I've mentioned in another post that I choose to interpret Flatland as like Bill's home world, but not the same as Bill's home world—and in particular, it would be an absolutely terrible resource to learn about his world's society and politics. The original Flatland is a satire of Victorian-era beliefs about gender, disability, and social class, and it's great at being that; but I'm writing a fanfic in 2023 and I'm not interested in using Bill's backstory to comment on Victorian-era beliefs. I want to use Bill's backstory to comment on UFO cults, spiritual con artists, child celebrities, and gifted kid burnout. Those themes don't really call for society-wide anxiety over the physical markers of social status; the extreme dehumanization of the disabled; or a very rigid class system with limited opportunities for advancement. So I doubt I'll explore those elements in my version of Bill's home world.

So, yes—in Bill's world, a resourceful line could shade her ends to make herself look like a circle from the side. Exactly the same way that, in our world, a drag king could use makeup contouring to mimic a more "masculine" bone structure and eyeshadow to mimic beard stubble and then go to a drag show wearing a priest costume. In Flatland and in Victorian England, a line contoured like a circle/drag king in a priest costume would be outrageous and unacceptable. In Bill's world and in our 2023 society, the people who are offended by such a performance are on the losing side of history and screaming impotently as their influence dies, and you can go see a drag king priest and it's fine. You can even be a drag king priest. I believe in you. ✨

And since I'm having shapes be born different colors, I don't plan on having any association between specific colors and a hierarchical ranking. I'm not interested in recreating racism & colorism in fantasy math shape land.

Just to give you a sense of how much of Flatland's society I'm willing to throw out, I'm not even sold on whether I'm going to keep the triangle-to-circle shape hierarchy. If I do keep it, I'll be treating it the same way I'd treat other elements of Flatland's Victorian satire: like it might have been true ages ago but by Bill's time things have changed. Maybe there's still an informal hierarchy and you've still got a system in place that keeps the poor poor and the rich rich BUT it's much less formalized/codified than it was a few generations ago and there are more and more people who see these social forces as an unjust system—so for instance, maybe you still see more circles than triangles in politics because they come from families with old money that were already powerful a century ago, but if somebody unironically says "circles SHOULD be leaders because they're naturally morally and intellectually superior," it smacks of eugenics and nobody trusts that guy.

But I also might just... not keep the shape hierarchy and not keep the "each generation gets closer to a circle" worldbuilding at all. (I've already joked in another post about making Bill's dad a rhombus with no explanation just to confuse the people who have read Flatland.)

What's most likely, though, is that I just won't say anything for OR against the existence of a shape hierarchy, because it's just not something likely to come up based on the themes I'm writing about lmao.

Yes, I assume that (at least most of) the few shapes that survived from Bill's dimension eventually relocated their eyes "inside" their bodies, like he did, as part of adapting to live in 3D space. "Magic? Surgery? Divine intervention?" IDK—the exact mechanisms of how they did this body modding isn't a plot point I'm likely to explore. Bill made the change very quickly and immediately, because he WANTED to explore the third dimension and wanted a body that better accommodated that, and also because destroying his dimension came with a huge power boost and so he could just change himself like that. Guys like Kryptos or Hectorgon probably had to do it another slower way.

There might be other surviving shapes out there who didn't join Bill's crew, and some of them might still keep their eyes on their sides, so it's not a mandatory or universal change. But at least the shapes Bill still hangs out with apparently thought it was a good idea.

I feel like a human asking "is hugging with a line kind of awkward" is sort of like a snake asking "is hugging with humans awkward? Since they can't wrap each other up with their whole body? Like, that's gotta be limiting, right?" From a snake's perspective, humans hugging might be limited, but humans don't think so because we don't conceptualize hugging the same way that snakes do, and we invented the act of hugging in a way that's convenient to us; and from a human's perspective, hugging a line might be awkward, but shapes don't think so because getting your arm around a long flat surface is the normal way of hugging to them. They're just used to it. And also used to not squashing each other's faces. Unless it's a really tight hug.

Now, ALL OF THE ABOVE being said...

Most of this probably isn't gonna be directly explored in the fic! I can't think of any reason in the fic why I'd stop and talk about why shapes are colors (unless like Mabel asks or something lmao). But like, Kryptos is blue, and Bill is gold, and Bill's mother is the same color he is, and these things will probably get passing mentions in the fic, and so if you read that in a fic you can guess that the author probably headcanons "the shapes come in different colors" and "color might be hereditary, since mother & child are the same color" and "the characters don't talk about having had to paint/dye themselves or anything, so maybe they naturally come in those colors?" but like I'm not likely to talk about it directly! Same goes for most other aspects of Bill's home society that aren't directly relevant to the kind of story I'm trying to tell.

Which means: this post, outside of the fic, is what I'm currently thinking I'll do. But if I don't actually talk about this in fic, what I've said in this post is probably still true: but what's MORE TRUE and MORE IMPORTANT is "if I didn't bring it up in the fic itself, it's not something necessary for you to know to understand the fic." For example, if I don't bring up the Flatland shape hierarchy, then you're free to make whatever assumptions you want about whether one is/isn't there in the background: but not bringing up a hierarchy DOES mean that you're not supposed to interpret Bill's character/backstory on the assumption that a hierarchy had an important, measurable impact on his life. If it were important to the fic, it would be in the fic.

I've said in a few other posts that I don't want a single part of this Gravity Falls fic to require the audience to know any story except Gravity Falls. That applies to Flatland, too. You don't have to read it to understand what I'm doing with Bill's backstory. Any worldbuilding from Flatland that I want you to know, I'll bring up in the fic; and therefore any Flatland worldbuilding I don't reference in the fic isn't necessarily canon to the fic.

(That doesn't mean I won't still answer headcanon asks that aren't directly relevant! I love headcanon asks. It's just that I know that people will probably read my fic assuming "if the author doesn't explicitly mention X, then the way the fic handles X is probably exactly identical to Flatland and we should make assumptions based on that." I'm trying to prevent that! It's actually the opposite: if Flatland does X and I never mention X, that probably means it isn't the same in my fic.)

[nicki0kaye]

There was a lot of Gender exploration at the center of HtTYD, but it was never going to be what Dreamworks centered for the sequels, if only because the first movie already explored that angle

There was a lot of depth to Steve's portrayal in CA:WS, but they were never going to fully deconstruct or in any way emasculate a male power fantasy that is analogous to the American war machine, which has a say in how the movies turn out bc it is Literally funding the fucking movie

There were a lot of great ideas and potential to Overwatch, but the goals of Blizzard and Activision are antithetical to transgressive art, and they never lied about who the characters were or what they intended to do with them, they just made the mistake of leaving us alone with so many open ended questions for so long, anything they gave me would have been a disappointment

There is something beautiful about the new direction of the Star Wars franchise, about the passion for the original trilogy and lore of the universe that is allowed to drive much of the creative direction under Filoni and Favreau. Creating for streaming services, especially Disney, has to be a nightmare and I'm still honestly impressed they've managed as much quality control as they have doing this marathon of project after project after project ESPECIALLY now that we know that certain shows were shot with no clear direction, singular writing staff, pitch bible, fucking nothing but the hope the editors could make shit make sense in post.

I dont want to keep letting media break my heart. I'm trying to be realistic a bout my expectations. And I have become so fucking sensitive to seeing my mistakes being repeated

Din was never going to keep the dark saber; what the audience interpreted as a position of weakness the character could grow from was Filoni showing the audience this was not Din's path. People were pissed and I deeply empathize with that fury, but he didn't bait and switch you. He didn't forget all the Mandalorian lore he helped bring to the screen. He and Favreau had specific goals that then had to travel through what has to be the most hellish marathon of a development cycle one can imagine and it resulted in a season that reflected that strain in ways previous seasons did not, purely by virtue of being sandwiched in the middle of Disney's unrealistic and frankly inhumane development cycle.

now in conversations about fandom expectations I keep referencing Din and the Dark Saber bc...what y'all made from what canon provided you was better than what canon ended up doing. Unquestionably. But that was you. And you deserve to be disappointed it wasn't anything nears a good. But you were not cheated or tricked or betrayed. You came up with something awesome and the creator wanted to do something different and was kneecapped in the attempt by the studio which fucked up the execution even more

[thejojolands-moved]

I'm not big into Demon Slayer, I always watch a new season but I'm not hardcore. It's a very fun thing just to turn on, especially when I'm sick. But every single time I watch it I just get so taken back by the Shounen misogyny.

Like Season 1, honestly not that bad all things considered. There's a lot of women that all have their own interesting things going on, from swordswomen like Shinobu, to the nurses, and to the many demonesses (? Is that the proper term? No clue lol). They were interesting and got a lot of screen time. Women's roles were very much skewed to being nurses, which isn't the best, but it's a historical fantasy so I can understand there being more in that area with less in combat roles. Still, many had their own inner world and aspects outside of men in their lives. They are heavily involved yes, and Kano changing her whole life because of a man was good, but it's definitely had a stronger start than many anime. It is also fun to see some men have the same writing as a lot of stereotypical Shounen ladies and not have it shoved in the audience's face the irony. Zenitsu is unbelievably annoying, so it's not the best execution on a character so prominent, but shrug.

I don't have much on the movie, it wasn't the best either but far from the worst. There's more ladies here who are interesting but the combat focus isn't on them which is fine, not great but fine, for a movie, honestly. They need to hone in and it did a good job on that.

Season 3 is where it starts to get iffier. The focus is on geisha, shinobi, and a demon geisha. The male main cast even had to disguise as women to help investigate, fun stuff! The issues come in how those women are depicted. Most are pretty one note, with some that are moreso 2 note then fully developed. All stuff that made me want more clarification. It didn't help that all the women were notably weaker compared to the men. I get that the protagonists are mostly dudes, so that's the cost of them women, but most women on their side couldn't hold their own in the slightest. The main villainess being revealed to have a stronger villain brother who needs to be defeated is hypothetically fun but just makes it worse that all the women got their shit rocked so early on.

Then we get to season 4 and Kanroji who is very much billed as a main character but gets largely shafted. It doesn't help that she's very blatantly a "x trope but better and more ironic" character. It's played too genuine to be effective and it's wear all the previous issues really boil over. They do improve her combat, she's not getting obliterated immediately but shows up very late in the battle side of things to be effective. It really stings in a season that has less of the main cast to they could absolutely focus on her more. Plus the whole trope subversion that's too obvious. It was subtle, but annoying, earlier on. But with Kanroji it's all so tongue and cheek and could be very funny (being a waifu that horrifies everyone? Turning hair colors because she's a shrimp? Hilarious ideas!) It's all just played too straight to where it falls into the trope instead of subverting it.

Then there's Nezuko across all seasons. Man is Nezuko a ton of missed potential, especially since there is a character very much like her already in Shounen (what is Alphonse Elric?). Frankly, outside of moments with tanjiro (mostly in backstory and the end of season 4) and all the time with guys sleeving on her, she could just be replaced with a sick, super powered puppy and not much would change. It's always her and that damn box, where she's forced out of the story to hibernate until it's time to battle and get her ass kicked. It's just disappointing, honestly. Especially compared to other women in Shounen who are leaps ahead and especially characters like Alphonse who she has so much in common with. There's a struggle there and while yes it is of course difficult for Tanjiro, it's gotta be GNARLY for Nezuko. But it's barely explored. Hoping it gets better after Season 4, because there's so much there to be explored and to make her shine but so far, it's nada.

[tanadrin]

season 1 of picard was pretty good star trek, in that it touched on and expanded on themes that have been pretty common in the show for many years: what is a person and why we shouldn’t fear new or strange forms of life were chief among them. the whole angle of also taking a heroic figure and having him examine his life looking backward at the end of it was also a nice touch. the fact their actually were evil robots in a pocket dimension slavering to destroy the universe was dumb, though; so was the whole shady romulan subplot. like 5/10 relative to its potential.

season 2 had some good bits, especially as like a character study of picard himself, but it was a little hard to swallow that given that it was pretty obviously all a retcon, bc literally none of those character beats had ever been foreshadowed in 7 seasons and 4 movies. also the time travel plot was really dumb and mostly pretty boring unfortunately. 2 or 3/10 relative to its potential.

season 3 so far i’m on the fence about. vadic is a genuinely delightful, cheesy villain. the raffi subplot is not very strong so far, but maybe if they link it up with the main plot it will help the pacing. the guy they have playing picard’s son is also good, and whatever he’s got going on is actually pretty interesting to me, but we’re spending way too much time on boring irrelevant stuff that could have been dispatched in 1 or 2 episodes (changelings are back! we can’t go to starfleet for help; they should have spent max one episode farting around in that nebula).

obviously it’s too soon to render an overall verdict, but thematically this season just seems to lack a center so far, or a driving purpose beyond “oh no we’re being pursued by baddies with Mysterious Motivations.” i do wish the showrunners had spent less time crafting intricate callbacks and sound cues to reference previous installments of star trek and more time making sure the plot and the pacing hung together well. i don’t think you need to introduce new aliens or new villains in every installment of star trek; i don’t think star trek has to be lots of self-contained one-shot episodes; i think there’s room to use continuity to make the world feel fuller and more complete. but i don’t think picard is doing any of that particularly well, which is too bad! they have a good cast and a great art department, and there are some good ideas in here. the execution is just lacking.

[oof-i-did-it-agaaiiin]

Okay okay okay so I enjoyed Wendell and Wild, it was visually fantastic, filled with great concepts and accompanied by a great soundtrack, but when watching it I felt like it wasn’t what it could be. It was trying to do so much and wasn’t able to execute its best ideas to the fullest. The pacing felt off and it wasn’t focused enough. The narrative was its weakest point, which unfortunately kinda destroys a film. Additionally, it didn’t feel as lively or fantastical as previous films of Selick’s.

There’s a lot about this film that would need to be reworked to get it to live up to its potential, and I had one idea about a story change that could’ve helped it.

In order to focus the story you need to cut back on characters, subplots, and topics you’re trying to cover. All the topics and characters the movie tries to cover are good in concept, but you can’t do them all effectively and meaningfully in just one movie. You have to decide who and what is most important to this story.

For this proposition I’m going to focus on the theme of corporate greed, gentrification, and the prison industrial complex.

So one problem of the film is that the villains, the Klaxons, aren’t very memorable. They’re pretty one dimensional and uninteresting in their villainy. They’re greedy, that’s about it. That simple motivation feels true to life when you look at the villainy of real life corporations and their CEO’s, but it doesn’t make for entertaining children’s movie villains. They’re nowhere near as interesting and enjoyable and genuinely scary compared to Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas or the Other Mother from Coraline. So for the purposes of my idea, scrap the Klaxons are reinstate Belzer as your main villain.

So in this version Rust Bank is still in trouble, it’s run down and dying a slow death as it runs out of inhabits and funding, just like in the original. But instead of a corporation coming along to put a prison in, Belzer decides that Rust Bank is the perfect place for his new faire, AKA, a place to torture souls for all eternity. Maybe the underworld has run out of room and needs to expand, I don’t know the explanation for why Rust Bank specifically is chosen, but I do know that this is an easy way to bring the (ironically) liveliness of the underworld into the movie’s main setting. Wendell and Wild, Belzer’s well meaning subordinates, have no clue the faire is a huge torture device, nor the danger it poses to the living members of the town, they think this new construction is all for the best, because that’s what their daddy told them. Here Wendell and Wild kind of take Siobhan’s role as they learn of the destruction this faire (being an analog for prison) causes.

This is just one angle the film could have taken though, but it would have brought the fantastical world of the dead to the main setting of the film, not only making it more engaging but more visually memorable. It helps create the kind of world you would want to explore, like is created through the tunnel in Coraline or is seen everywhere in Nightmare Before Christmas.

[thiscrimsonsoul]

{i am the caretaker of souls} Bit of a random rant below the read more about the headcanon question... what if Wanda developed psychosomatic colorblindness following DSMoM and could no longer see red?

So the 1994 movie Color of Night was on the other night and I hadn’t seen it in a very long time. I’ve always liked that movie, even though I know a lot of people have little good to say about it because of its sexual explicitness, uncomfortable discussions about childhood abuse, assault, and trauma, and its questionable portrayal of DID, but if you can look past the triggering content and exploitative feel at times, the plot was always one that interested me. I genuinely enjoyed it, although the ending is... emotionally rough. Jane March is an actress I feel has been so drastically underrated over the years too, because she’s great at expressing an array of harrowing emotions as well as vulnerability that somehow doesn’t come across as damsel-in-distress-ish. The combination of vulnerability and agency in her character in this movie is refreshing. If you like murder mysteries with a sexually-charged noir type feel in its unfolding, then check it out. But be warned of the potentially-triggering material I mentioned above.

The plot. Basically, a psychiatrist takes over running group therapy sessions from a colleague who was murdered, and in addition to trying to continue the patients’ therapy, he also tries to figure out who killed his friend. Around the same time he starts getting threatened himself by an unknown stalker, he meets and falls in love with an enigmatic woman who seems to not want him to know too much about herself. Plots and people and pasts become intertwined after that, and I don’t want to say any more because there’s a pretty significant twist at the end.

My point in mentioning it here is something that the psychiatrist experienced during the movie... psychosomatic colorblindness. He had suffered a previous trauma that had caused him to no longer be able to see the color red. Instead, everything that was supposed to be red was now a muted gray. Blood, for example, looked like gray paint to him. I haven’t seen the movie since I started watching MCU movies in 2018, so this time when watching it I thought to myself... what if Wanda suffered something similar post-DSMoM?

Imagine if the trauma of everything after the temple on Wundagore collapsed, everything she’d done, everyone she’d lost, and just the horrid truth of knowing she’d failed her boys and everyone else who believed in her... had caused Wanda to stop seeing the color red? As part of her brain’s response to all that trauma building up and then exploding, she wakes up after Wundagore (because we all know she’s not dead, come on, haha) and her outfit looks gray. She uses her powers... and her magic looks gray. It looks like smoke to her. Imagine how disconcerting and alarming that would be for her, because it’s been a part of her for so many years, and to see its color change to a dull gray, along with everything else that’s supposed to be red, would be alarming but also I’m guessing kindof depressing. 

I know this is such a random thing to latch onto, but because the color that was muted in the movie was red, it just automatically made me think of Wanda, because so much about her and that she does is associated with red. And just imagine... the Scarlet Witch... being unable to see the color red... *shrugs* I don’t know, it was just an idea that hit me and I kindof want to add it in, only because I think it would help punctuate this new stage of trauma she’s going through now, like... it would be an indicator of just how much the events of DSMoM affected her, that she would develop this psychosomatic ailment. It would also be poetically poignant and fitting, if Wanda wakes up disgusted with herself and her powers, depressed by the monster her boys in 838 looked at her as, if she then couldn’t see red. It’d almost be as if she is mentally, in a subconscious manner, rejecting her own magic and title by wiping the color red from her vision.

And the solution to it would be so nebulous because psychosomatic ailments can clear up in a few days, months, years... or never. And what “heals” them is different for everyone, because the damage is in the brain, in the mind, not in the body. There would be nothing wrong with Wanda’s eyes or vision, but rather it would be how her brain is interpreting signals from her eyes that would be affected. It’s a psychological ailment, not a physical one, and those can be very difficult to alleviate. So there would be no telling when, or if, Wanda would regain her ability to see red.

*shrugs again* No point to this rant other than that it’s something I found interesting that made me think of Wanda and what the implications of it would be for her. If anybody wants to do a thread on this or wants me to add this condition to an existing thread for Wanda, let me know. It would be something interesting to explore as far as how she reacts to it and how it affect her and her magic going forward.

[dans-den]

My Top 5 Worst Movies of 2022

What's going on everyone, it's Dan here and today I'll be going over my Top 5 worst movies of 2022. I didn't want to go with easy one's like secrets of Dumbledore or Jurassic world: Dominion, I wanted to dig deeper and find movies that slipped under the radar or people haven't heard much about and review those.

I've said it twice and I'll say it again, these are my opinions and all of this is subjective. You may agree or disagree with me and that's fine. With that said, lets begin

Number 5 is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever from Marvel/Disney (6/10)

Right off the bat, I'm making a lot of enemies with putting this movie at number 5. Now keep in mind, this movie had to be rewritten due to the passing of Chadwick Boseman so what we got wasn't the original vision but rather salvaging what they could. I already gave my complicated feelings on a review for it last month and while I gave it a 6/10, I personally did not like this movie. It's okay for what we ended up getting, but I still felt they could have pushed this back and taken more time with it rather than salvaging what they could to make a movie. The first half almost put me to sleep and the second half is where it started picking up the slack. The end credit scene was nice but unlike the old post credit scenes from previous Marvel movies before Endgame, it won't lead to the next film but rather give us a hint at what's to come. Who knows when that plan or if it will ever happen. Overall, I'm glad they gave homage to the late Chadwick Boseman, but as a movie itself, its nothing too special. Shuri is a great Black Panther and I loved her personal journey, but other than that the movie is just lackluster.

Number 4 goes to Lightyear from Pixar/Disney (5.5/10)

Now this was a movie that had plenty of potential to be a great movie based on a beloved character from Toy Story, but it was a mess to infinity and beyond anything I could have imagined. The tone is off, its different from the happy go star commander were all use to seeing. Here it's a more serious and dark tone where Buzz normally gives off this upbeat and somewhat campy space ranger tone like with Duck Dodgers or the Jetsons or even Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, I was hoping that's what this movie would be like. The tone just doesn't fit, in fact this doesn't seem like a Buzz Lightyear movie. It feels more like a generic space commander movie with Buzz slapped on it for marketing. I also wanna address the "controversial" same sex kiss scene...it was a literal peck, not like they full on frenched each other so I don't see how that could have ruined the movie. The movie suffered due to its time travel plot being ridiculous and its tone being more serious than it should have. Feels like this was meant to be a sci-fi horror film rather than a Disney film with a Toy Story character. I admire that they're trying something new, but this is not the way to go about it. Plus the twist with Zurg? Like why? As I said, this movie had potential, but it was just not steered in the proper direction and it suffered for not staying faithful to the character of Buzz Lightyear.

Number 3 will be going to THE....MOVIE OF ALL TIME! Morbius from Marvel/Sony (5/10)

It's Morbin' Time! I know I complained about Lightyears plot but at least that had a plot. The plot for this movie was near nonexistent! This movie is something else, Jared Leto once again showing that superhero movies are not his best attribute less we remember his....memorable role as the Joker from Suicide Squad (2016) and the Snyder Cut of Justice League (he did way better there than in Suicide Squad). I already gave my thoughts on the movie back in April and while I did give it a 5/10 initially, I feel that the score needs to be brought down to like a 4 or a 3.5 because this movie is just a complete MEME! So much so that Sony saw the meme attention it was getting and had the Megamind idea to rerelease the film again thinking it would do better this time around....but it actually flopped AGAIN! This is the first film to have a box office flop twice! That is an accomplishment in it of itself! While I don't think its a great superhero movie, it's definitely a so bad its good superhero movie, to me this is more of a guilty pleasure movie that you just watch to have a good laugh with some mindless action thrown in. This definitely holds a special place in my catalog of memorable movies and superhero movies, This is a rare distinction on this list so Morbius I tip my hat to you for being everyones....movie of all time!

Number 2 goes to the direct to streaming Halloween movie Hocus Pocus 2 from Disney/Disney Plus (3/10)

Now this is one of those movies I felt did not need to happen, but since it's Halloween it's time to see what beloved Halloween classics need to be given a sequel for next generation. A sequel that adds nothing but just trying to be hip and with it. I tried to avoid watching this movie but I just couldn't get away from it. My sisters house, My job, even my own house I was doomed to watch and finish this movie. I watched it on several occasions to finish and it was worse than I thought. First off, the original Hocus Pocus was dark, there is no denying that these witches were unapologetically evil draining the youth from children (killing them in the process), turning kids into cats, bringing back the dead and trying to kill more children. The opening even shows them witches being hung, they even showed that in this sequel. Speaking of the sequel, it's just generic Halloween kids movie with the Hocus Pocus named slapped on. This movie tries to give us backstory on the Sanderson sisters which I'll admit is nice but it also tries to make them more sympathetic and seem like they're the real victims. I understand they grew up in Salem during a time when Women had no say in anything and witch hunts happened on the daily, but it doesn't work when we've established that they're ruthless in the original. But here, they act like grandma's where technology is foreign to them and they've become sillier rather than major threats and how in the end, they rest in peace thanks to the power of friendship. It doesn't make any sense, especially when they were destroyed in the previous film, they get brought back again from a candle almost thirty years later? It doesn't make sense and it just seems lazy. I don't think they needed to be made sympathetic, they should have been just as ruthless and threatening as they were in the original movie. I enjoy villain's who are unapologetically evil just as much as I enjoy the one's you can sympathize with. They should have been kept Unapologetically evil from the start. Also the main heroes (if you can call them that even though they brought back the Sanderson sisters to begin with) are generic as can be, I don't remember any of their names. The only part I enjoyed from this movie was when Mary Sanderson used Roombas as broom sticks to fly, that actually got a laugh out of me and that Hannah Waddingham makes a hot witch lady ngl. Other than that, this movie had no reason to exist. It was nice seeing the OG actresses reprise their roles, but this was still shameless nostalgic bait to gain more subscribers for Disney Plus.

After all I said, I'm sure you're asking yourself "what could possibly be worse than Hocus Pocus 2?! I thought for sure this would be the worst movie!" but you be wrong my friends, the worst movie of 2022 is....

Number 1 goes to The Munsters (2022) from Rob Zombie (1/10)

With everything I've said about these films, I can at least watch them in their entirety even If I gotta do it in short bursts, but this film was so bad I had to stop it halfway through and leave my own room just to reflect on the decisions I've made leading up to that. I was not able to finish this movie and I don't plan to finish watching this abomination. This movie has been distributed to DVD, Amazon Prime and Netflix (which is where I watched it). My god, I respect Rob Zombies work not only in film but his music as well I actually enjoy his music especially Dragula, that's a personal favorite of mine. I've enjoyed his other films like the Zombie Horror Picture Show, 3 from Hell and Lords of Salem, but something went wrong here. I also want to point out I am a fan of The Munsters, I watched the classic tv show as a kid and even now I still enjoy that along with other 60's classics such as The Addams Family and the 1960's Batman TV show. But this film is far from its source material. It get's almost nothing right except the bare minimum. It doesn't feel like The Munsters it feels like a parody of The Munsters if that. It's just impressions and costumes mixed with cheesy rock and roll elements slapped on it. The jokes and Puns feel so forced and the setting is just horror meets old time rock and roll. I guess it's an origin story on how Herman and Lily met but their characters in the film don't match up who they are, it doesn't seem like The Munsters at all. It's set to be in the 1400's but treats it like the 1970's or 1980's and it doesn't really seem funny at all it just looks bizarre. I have no idea what they were thinking taking this 1960's classic and turning it into this cheesy origin love story. The origin story could possibly work, but I think Rob Zombie was the worst choice to do it considering his main works. When I first heard The Munsters were getting a movie this year and that it would be done up by Rob Zombie, I was excited. Unfortunately, the movie did not deliver on anything. It was clever, it wasn't funny and I don't even think cringe is the best way to describe this, it's just unbearable and I will never go back to finishing that film unless I was obligated to or if I get lucky with a lady if I watch it, that's it. It's a shame this happened to a beloved property I grew up watching, this makes The Munster's movies from the 90's look better by comparison and that's why I believe The Munsters (2022) is the worst movie of 2022.

Let's see how many enemies I make today, I'll post my Top 5 best movies tomorrow and should wrap up the year for me.

See ya!

[seyaryminamoto]

Happy Birthday ! :) Go Capricorns <3 Hope you had a wonderful holiday season. Thank you for giving us this beautiful story. If I may ask, as a writer, how do you keep yourself going? How do you stay motivated and inspired for so long? It’s amazing! And the story you deliver is absolutely breathtaking. I admire you so much <3 P.S Thoughts on the new comics/ movies that avatar studios is coming up with ??

Sorry for taking so long to answer! Happy birthday to you too, Anon! I'm assuming it already passed, with Capricorn season wrapping up and all x'D

So, how do I stay motivated...? To be honest, it's a bit tricky to answer that X'D

I've told this story a few times in the past, I think, but the truth is, I actually wound up writing ATLA fics because I was stuck, absolutely stuck, with an original story over some worldbuilding elements I couldn't figure out. I was infuriated and frustrated by it, so I decided to clear my head and go watch this TV show people kept telling me was soooo good, so I settled on doing that and no longer stressing out about my story...!

... Poor story's been fridged for ten years :') so very cruel of me to do that, I know. And I think that, on top of the fridging, I'm actually bound to have to rewrite the whole thing from scratch one day, so... yeah :'D

The point of sharing this is explaining that, as much as I write up a storm sometimes, I don't ALWAYS do it, it doesn't work with everything, writer's block is no stranger for me, if anything I got waaaay too acquainted with it as a teenage writer who was writing whatever came to mind with zero pressure because it was for her eyes only.

My time writing original fiction as a teenager taught me many lessons, though, and among them, the discipline to write on a regular, constant basis. This isn't something EVERYONE can do, every writer works differently, and I can't pretend I'm permanently, constantly ready to write. But just waiting for inspiration to strike is a dangerous game to play, because... often inspiration arrives for the wrong things, or at the wrong time. I don't write anything out of order if I can help it (though my god, Part 3 is sooo trying to mess with that, organizing this chaotic chunk of the story has NOT been easy x'D), precisely because if I don't push myself through the transition scenes, through the lead-up, and I just jump right into the big moments I REALLY want to write? I'll never write the build-up to it because I'll never feel like it :'D

So, for starters, discipline. The discipline I developed is mostly about being ready to power through when things aren't super engaging. And then, if things didn't feel right because you forced them, you scrap and redo it, specifically by pinpointing the problems that caused things to feel forced. I've had to scrap soooo many ideas that just weren't flowing correctly, and I've had to go around that and figure out other ways to write something, both to make it more engaging and to make it actually work better than whatever I had in mind at first...

... Therefore, secondly, gotta learn to adapt! Once you identify something's not right, or a GREAT idea comes to mind but it potentially derails your previous plans, you slow down to figure out how to adapt, if adapting is possible at all. I actually had some very strange ideas for the arc I'm currently posting in Gladiator, and upon reaching the point where I finally had to write them... I realized that concept didn't work. It might work better on a TV show, maybe, in something audiovisual, because it would have required a lot of switching, back and forth, between two situations that looked the same, at the same time? Kinda? And it just didn't feel right when I finally was supposed to write it, it was too confusing. So... I adapted to what felt right, and I think the result is infinitely better for it :D

Thirdly... which probably should be the first thing, honestly: building scenes.

It sounds weird to say it this way, but this is a key element of how I write stories. It's become such an important part of it that nowadays I've become disgustingly critical of how scenes are built in any content I consume -- I'll have to try and figure out if someone's put my feelings about this into words, maybe in academic essays or books or so, because I admit I really don't know how to explain something that feels so instinctive to me...

But anyway: scene building is the core of how I write. If I were planning on writing a car race, I'd have to think about how that race will end, probably even before I think about how it begins. If it ends with a triumph for the hero, or a defeat, or a brutal accident that causes the race to be cancelled? I have to think about how that would happen, depending on the story I'm telling. Once I settle on the outcome, that retroactively informs then, of what I need to do in order to build this conclusion: how do I develop the characters in order to take them in that direction? And once the conclusion arrives... it has to be the biggest moment of the story. It has to carry narrative weight. A lot of that can be built by setting the stage, something I've found a lot of people don't really seem to think about... but even a small room in a house can be a grand stage for a big story's conclusion if the scene is set properly to pay off there.

So... I build up scenes. When I start thinking about telling stories, the first thing my brain is wired towards is envisioning scenes. Once I come up with a scene that I REALLY want to write, or in some cases, multiple scenes, I start to thread things together. Let's take for example... my "Azula and Sokka as spies" AU from Sokkla Saturdays 2020.

First thing I came up with was the idea, of course, of Sokka and Azula having to work together to save Kuei somehow. The exact threat they were saving him from only came to mind later, what mattered was that they would be in Ba Sing Se, cooperating to put a stop to something dangerous.

Then, I thought of the idea of the two of them being stuck together in a closet or a very tight space, unable to move or do anything because the enemy was right there and would catch them snooping about in the wrong place at the wrong time :'D This specific scene, then, became the core of how I built up that story.

From that core, I started to come up with the conclusion (do they win or lose), as well as how they landed in that situation, what's the threat, why they're working together but as separate agents, what their dynamics would be like in this setting, how their mutual attraction reaches a boiling point in that very specific scene...

And at that point, I just focused on preparing everything and setting the stage in order to tell the story of... how Sokka and Azula wound up locked inside a tight space together in Ba Sing Se's Palace X'D

For me, generating those core scenes is crucial for building a story that I can flow through with the right amount of motivation. I don't really know how other people do it, some people love writing stories without planning anything beforehand, and all the power to them if they can do that. I really prefer building things up towards the outcome I'm aiming for, though. At times, new elements come up in the middle of writing anyway, and you can be surprised by unexpected twists that actually bring new life to your story. You just have to let yourself ride the waves and figure out whether you'd rather choose your destination or let your story choose it for you, in a sense. But for me, setting at least some of the course is what seriously pushes me towards creating the story I want to write.

Gladiator-wise, the key has been this same principle, but in higher frequency. Basically, pretty much every arc I've written has one or multiple core scenes that I built up at the center of it all. Sometimes those core scenes could be very small and contained things... sometimes they could be something massive and chaotic. But I basically have pushed through Gladiator without breaking (even when things did get me down at times) because I had those highlights, important moments to look forward to that motivated me (and still motivate me, we're not done yet!) to keep going and push past the build-up that's necessary for everything that comes next.

... Alright, I hope that made sense X'D

As for Avatar Studios and its upcoming projects, as well as Hicks's next comic... I don't really have a lot to say on that front. I'm on a strict "live-and-let-die" policy with canon since North and South Part 1, pretty much, the last comic I ever read in full... because unless canon actually catches my attention and does things in a way I can respect/enjoy, I'm better off not engaging with it. As I mentioned in another ask not long ago, what really bothers me about the latest direction of this franchise is the lack of purpose in the stories they've been telling. Aang's story doesn't feel that way... but pretty much everything else does. Until I get the sense that they do have a direction and a purpose, I don't think I'm going to be overly concerned with whatever canon does. If I'm told Azula's comic is great, I'll definitely give it a read, but I don't hold out a ton of hope for my peace of mind, too. Better not to get excited only to be disappointed later on, as The Search taught me :'D I'd love it if Hicks can do a good job with the comic, of course, but I'm not passing judgment for or against it until it's out... and after it's out, I'll only pass judgment if I actually decide it sounds like something I want to read. Canon is free to do what it wishes to... I live very happily in my AUs and I have no need for canon validation to do what I do. So... that's my stance on that :'D

[ultrahpfan5blog]

The Flash Season 3 - Retrospective Review

I finally finished up season 3 in my retrospective rewatch. I remember season 3 was largely considered a step down after the well received first two seasons and I remember I felt similarly at the time. But having rewatched season 3, I was honestly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It definitely has its problems without a doubt, but I would say that its back half is actually really strong. I think its overall impact is right up there with season 2.

Like I mentioned, there are problems with season 3 for sure. I think the show royally squandered the potential of Flashpoint. I get that the show doesn't quite have the budget to do the Flashpoint from the comics, but this adaptation was so far removed comics that it barely even feels like it is taking anything from the comics. Problem also was that Flashpoint in the comics had happened only 5 years prior and had been a very popular run which then led the new 52 for DC. Not to mention, The Flashpoint Paradox movie had done a very effective adaptation of the story a few years prior as well. Flashpoint honestly should have been a crossover storyline that kicked off the respective seasons of all the shows in question. I get why it was difficult to do so, but the end result was disappointing even though there were charming elements to the alternate timeline scenes, and the scenes with Matt Lescher Thawne with Barry, were a treat. The Flashpoint episode is also the first time I honestly was sold on the idea of Barry and Iris as a couple. Because Flashpoint removed the baggage of their shared past growing up, I feel the episode did show the chemistry between the two.

I think the initial run of episodes of season 3 are rocky. There are multiple reasons for it. For one, the show's decision to make the consequences of Flashpoint almost universally negative makes the season quite downbeat in tone. Its an issue the season is never able to fully shrug off. But we essentially get nothing but negative consequences, for the West family, for Cisco, and for Caitlin. It just gets a little much, especially with Cisco, who was our primary source of humor in previous seasons. Not to mention, the villains born out of Flashpoint are quite mediocre. The show tried to promise a non speedster villain in Alchemy, but he ended up being a lot of nothing. Savitar himself is a bit of a mixed bag as a villain. Initially, he just pales in comparison to Zoom and Thawne, and his suit design feels like a Transformer design. But he definitely improves as the season goes on and certainly when the identity of Savitar is revealed, he becomes quite interesting. Certainly Savitar and Killer Frost make for a lot of fun because they are more personal as villains. There is still a sense of lost potential because an evil Barry could have been even cooler but the show doesn't really give enough time for a proper explanation to why time remnant Barry became evil. There is an explanation, but it isn't very convincing.

However, I will say that the back half of season 3 is really strong. I would argue that the final run of episodes are stronger than season 2. The first half has some strong episodes like 'Killer Frost', which gives a focus on Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin. But the show really takes off with the Grodd two parter. All the episodes following that are pretty good and the finale is certainly the most action packed finale till that point. There are some genuinely great episodes towards the end. The entire run from 'The Once and Future Flash' to 'Finish Line' is pretty great. As I mentioned before, once Caitlin turns into Killer Frost, then the entire conflict feels a lot more personal because it is essentially a future version of Barry and an evil version of Caitlin.

The season also has some cool crossovers. 'Invasion' is pretty awesome and it was the biggest crossover till date, bringing in Legends and Supergirl and was a huge ratings smash. Its also incredibly entertaining. I liked that the show acknowledged the connections between characters across shows. Like between Caitlin and Martin Stein for example. It makes the whole thing feel like a universe. The action sequences, particularly in The Flash episode, are awesome. Barry going up against the powered heroes while Oliver goes up against the non powered ones, and then the face off between Flash and Supergirl. There is also the musical crossover, which is just super fun. Grant and Melissa were clearly having a blast. The musical talents of the Arrowverse were on display.

This season also introduced a few new characters to team Flash. One of which was Tom Cavanaugh's third iteration of Wells. I remember how it took some time to warm up to HR since he doesn't quite have the same utility to team Flash as previous Wells, but on rewatch he is really such an important cog. HR really acts as much needed comic relief in season 3 because the remaining characters are going through such dramatic character arcs. Also, the character is very likable and you really care for him and his death is one of the more impactful deaths on the show. The second major character introduced is Julian. Initially, the character is a little too antagonistic but you do warm up to him towards mid season when he joins team Flash. Plus, his acerbic nature adds a different quality to the team dynamic. I wasn't a big fan of making him another Caitlin love interest but the character was enjoyable and its a pity we never got more of him after season 3. Additionally, while not a new character, this is definitely the most prominent season for Wally. His development as Kid Flash is pretty central to a huge chunk of the season. He does get a little sidelined in the last run of episodes, but he does have a good arc overall. The season brings back Harry and Jesse to good effect, with Jesse becoming Jesse Quick. The Wally and Jesse romance is cute, if not fully realized and it is quite fun to have Tom Cavanaugh play both Harry and HR at the same time.

The cast is all on their A game throughout the season. This season is heavier on the drama for all the characters and it definitely causes all the actors to step up their game. As always, Grant Gustin is excellent. His role definitely is a lot more angsty and dealing with guilt and internal conflict, but he pulls it off. He does seem to be having fun playing Savitar and it was honestly a mistake that the reveal wasn't made some episodes before. The show ran the mystery for too long, and a really cool reveal became pretty obvious. Candice Patton gets to flex her dramatic chops. I admit that she very much is handcuffed into the girl who has to be saved role but he gets a lot of emotional scenes and she's great in it. This was definitely Danielle Panabaker's strongest season. She has a very central arc in this season. She's great as Caitlin and as Killer Frost. While E2 KF was a bit hammy, keeping in tone with E2, E1 KF has a bit more grounded nature to the performance. She definitely seems to have enjoyed playing evil, though the show never gave us an understanding as to why KF is evil by default. Carlos Valdez as always is excellent. His character is initially a bit too miserable, but everything takes a turn for the better from the crossover onwards. His romance with Gypsy was fun to see. The season gets to see him became Vibe and be out and about as a hero, which is pretty awesome. Jesse L. Martin continues to shine in all the emotional moments, and he gets to have plenty of those with Iris, Barry, and Wally all being in danger at some point or another. Tom Cavanaugh has a blast as HR. Its probably the character that is closest to his actual personality. He gets to play Harry and HR at several points in the season. Tom Felton brings his Draco Malfoy energy to good effect. He has a fun dynamic with Grant Gustin. Keynan Lonsdale is similarly excellent, playing Wally with arrogance and likability.

All in all, I think season 3 is a lot better than people give it credit for. I think a lot of the initial rough assessment is due to season 3 not introducing as many new elements like the first 2 seasons did. But in terms of enjoyment, I did have a lot of fun rewatching it. Hopefully the same holds true for season 4, which was one of my least favorite seasons overall for the show. This season is a solid 8/10.

[yeowninefive]

My 2022 Art Retrospective

It’s been, uh, quite a year. I’m honestly not sure where to start; because I feel like as much as I want to focus on the more critical elements of my year, they’re largely surrounded by a lot of good things.

I’ll try to start off by focusing on my art goals I outlined for this year back in 2021: drawing more fanart, returning to animation, drawing more complex environments/backgrounds, adapting more of the stories/scripts I had tried my hand at writing so far into a comic/illustration format, and doing direct collaborations / art trades.

Fanart: Mixed bag, but leaning towards positive. Just a little bit more fanart compared to last year; but including gift art, it;s. I also feel that when the year first started, I was on pace on delivering a decent rate of fan art (at least one for each month), but I do think as I focused on two OC-related projects (Pandy and the Commodities/Playbill Commodities; Deuwood in Another World), that fell by the wayside. So going into 2023, ratcheting up the fanart is the one goal I’d like to achieve for next year. I feel this would be especially important, because at least on deviantArt, two of the fanarts I made this year (The Great Pet Race on Sesame Street and Save the Last Dance) ended up as among my most viewed and most favorite artwork on that site.

Animation: Small baby steps taken forward. I posted at least three distinct animations (three separate ones, four total—one completed animation, one WIP, and both the WIP and final for a third animation). Not a lot, but it’s still a step up from the complete dry spell that was 2021. I think they each serve as a decent showcase of various techniques I’ve gotten from learning animation over the course of this year. My goal going into 2023 is that I’m able to somehow streamline my approach to animation to produce more animations, namely with them being short but being fairly polished and focused on particular techniques. I actually have a handful of animation concepts that are on the shelf; and I hope to get them completed over the course of the year, alongside some new concepts.

Backgrounds/environments: A step back from 2021—environments were largely non-existent; and the few I did make are still simplified compared to the environments I made back in 2021, or even 2020. With that said, I think it also shows where my focus in art has shifted from when I first started (which was largely my concept art for potential videogame environments) to where I am now (which is largely original characters created by me and others). So for 2023 I’m not really invested in keeping detailed backgrounds/environments as a priority. I have a few environment/background artworks I would like to complete, but they really are works that I only return to work on in a blue moon. I imagine that if I do get some produced, it will largely be as a bonus element. In its place; I think I’d to substitute it with a new goal for 2023—the new year is going to officially mark ten years of my online artist career. So to commemorate that, I’d like to start doing a handful of remakes of my older art over the years; to showcase my current art skills and how my art has evolved over time.

Comics/stories: I’m sorry to say nope, nada, zilch. Beyond one entry (The Great Pet Race comic, which as aforementioned was popular on deviantArt); I never got around to completing any others. There was even one comic concept I wanted to do to commemorate the launch of the Sonic 2 Movie that I’ve honestly just sat on, unfortunately. (Maybe I can get around to it for the one-year anniversary of the film’s release, maybe?) My only real explanation/excuse for this is that I was more pre-occupied with my previously-mentioned OC projects. It’s also not for a lack of ideas or a lack of trying—I have a bunch of concepts I’ve written down over the past year, a bunch of others from previous years I haven’t done yet; and I’ve even started on a couple. I think delivering on these concepts (and then some) is what I’ll pin as my biggest art priority for 2023.

Art trades/collaborations: Another one where I’ve largely struck out on. I consider this an odd miss, given the large amount of artwork I’ve done that feature other creators’ original characters (and how popular those works have been around tumblr and Twitter). This is something I think I should be easily able to deliver on going into 2023, but I’m not hedging my bets on it exactly. Like with the backgrounds/environments, I would plug this as a lower priority goal to achieve. I’d even substitute this with another goal in that I’d like to try and dip my finger into art commissions, and possibly even request some for myself. I’ve mainly shied away from taking commission requests, because of concerns with time management; when I first started with digital art, I did various avatar requests that ultimately got completed over the course of a couple of years. A more recent series of commissions I did in 2020 wasn’t as bad but still took place over the course of several weeks. In my context of my art commissions, they’re also done just for fun and for free. I’ve thought about it a couple of times, but for now, I don’t think I’m ready or particularly invested in doing art commissions as a profession/for money.

With all of my goals from 2022 examined and used to outline my goals for 2023, I think this just leaves how exactly was my art output this year, outside of comparisons to my goals. In terms of output, for the third time running; I’ve managed to outdo myself once more. 2022 saw me publishing roughly seventy different drawings (with a few animations) included, nearly eighty overall when including alternate versions of the artwork. I also do feel that some of the small springs of popularity my art garnered in 2021 helped paid certain dividends for this year. As I mentioned earlier, particular pieces I posted garnered a decent amount of popularity across the three sites I post my art on (deviantArt, Twitter, and tumblr), and a handful of them garnered some small followings on dA and Twitter. Tumblr was admittedly more a mixed experience in that I feel only a select handful of my art really garnered any traction; even though it was the platform where some of my art actually hit 100 interactions (likes/reblogs/retweets/etc., not views) for the first time ever anywhere.  And much like with last year, the gift art I made featuring other people’s OCs were broadly my most popular works; though other art I made (certain fanart and art of my OCs) were also liked quite a bit at certain places.

Beyond my art goals, I’ve been mainly thinking about changing my strategy of posting art going into 2023. As some of you who have been following me may know, I’ve been thinking about setting up shop on another social media platform; especially in light of…certain management changes that have happened with Twitter (which is a shame, as Twitter is the site I’d say my art gets the most consistent engagement. deviantArt’s flirtation with AI art and their bungled attempt to default everybody’s art into AI datasets did not help matters either). I actually almost had a fourth one up and running at Instagram a few weeks back, but was incredibly bothered with certain policies they had that I promptly had second thoughts. (I’ve cooled off a bit since then, to not completely rule that place out.) I’m still looking into other sites to try and expand my reach—regular candidates I’ve been considering are cohost, Newgrounds, and Pillowfort; hopefully I’ll finally commit to one of those options later into the new year.

I’ve also been considering different approaches in direction to the new accounts I make—when I initially opened my IG account, it was with the intention of using it as a “second-run/second-tier” art account; where I only post my more popular artworks there, after their “original run” in other areas. Truth be told, I’ve also been considering this for my Tumblr art account as well in light of how most of my art performed this recent year; leaving dA and Twitter (as long as the latter’s still up) as my “first-run” art accounts. It’s bittersweet in that tumblr’s always been my initial outlet for my art after dA (which I use as my comprehensive art archive); but I feel that it by and large feels too overlooked to give it the same amount of investment/attention as I normally do. If nothing else, maybe I’ll rely more on scheduled reblogs at certain times for posting art. I’ll cap this off with the final note that while “first-run/second-run” accounts have been my main idea for future art accounts, I’ve been considering other ideas.

…whew! I think we can leave it here, I honestly had to condense this down quite a bit. As always, to any readers who was willing to pull up a seat and coast through my stream of reflective consciousness. I offer you my personal thanks. And of course, going into the new year;I hope you have a great New Years’ Eve/New Years’ Day, and the rest of 2023 is just as good if not even better!

[moviewarfare]

A Review of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)”

Who would've thought that a hero called "Ant-Man" would succeed in a trilogy? I massively enjoyed the first one but found the second one to be quite forgettable. I loved the idea of smaller stake stories for Ant-Man films. It was a little surprising to hear that Ant-Man 3 would have bigger stakes as I didn't find this to suit the character. Is this a good entry for the little guy or quantum garbage?

The greatest highlight of this film is the antagonist, Kang the Conqueror, played by Jonathan Majors. Kang is fearsome and menacing with a terrific performance by Jonathan that reminds me of Darth Vader. He steals the show in every scene, to the point that I was actually rooting for him. I am also glad that his performance is vastly different to the variant we saw in the Loki (2021) show. I can't wait to see more of Kang in the future! In terms of performance, I also enjoyed seeing more of Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne. She was barely in the second Ant-Man film but here she is front and centre. She shines in her performance and perfectly illustrates the guilt and fear her character is experiencing. Paul Rudd is still charming and charismatic as Scott Lang. His relationship with his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) is still the main core of his character. We get to see 'some' serious moments with his character which was nice to see.

Another thing I liked was the overall design of the Quantum Realm. The world and the living beings in the Quantum Realm were interesting. It had a very Star Wars/Mad Max feel to it with the blend of sci-fi, deserts and alien-like creatures. The 3rd act of the movie is also quite entertaining. For the most part, it's a giant CGI battle with lots of things happening on screen but it is fun to watch. I especially loved seeing Kang in action because we get to see how much of a beast he is compared to previous villains.

However, the writing is very weak. There are a lot of silly dialogues that just made me roll my eyes. It doesn't help that for some reason Marvel is still doing forced unnecessary humour. If this story is meant to be higher stakes then make it serious! The quips get overly repetitive. The first half is a little dull too with minimal interesting things happening. It doesn't take until over halfway through the movie to actually see Kang. Additionally, the ending was disappointing. It is very bland and safe which is a shame as this film could've delivered a shocking and memorable ending. This movie is also meant to build up hype for the next Avengers film but that ending fails to do even that.

MODOK is also in this film and it is a pointless addition. Not only do they change the character completely from their comic counterpart, but their role in the story is also absolutely irrelevant. Could take them out of the story and nothing will change. Despite the film being called Ant-Man and the Wasp, both Scott Lang and Hope feel like side characters in their own film. They have no character development and are just kind of there for the ride. Janet is more of a main character than them. I also don't like this trend in these recent Marvel films of Marvel characters looking out for these young characters. Cassie is the next in this trend and is also an annoying character like many of them before. I think Kathryn Newton is fine in her role but her character just isn't written well to be likeable enough for me to care. This is also a very CGI-heavy film and for the most part, it is okay but there are definitely times when it looks rough. The editing, especially during action sequences, can be really bad. They tend to do too many quick cuts during action sequences and for some reason use the shaky cam in 2023!

Overall, Ant-Man 3 is a bit disappointing. There was a lot of potential for this to be something great but the execution is quite poor. This isn't a great start to Phase 5 and I am getting worried about the future of the MCU. They need to do a better job at making people hyped for the next Avengers-level threat as this film isn't making me think this is a threat equal to or better than Thanos. I'm hoping future Marvel films start building up this new threat because they need to show us that this new threat is worthy of our attention.

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